Treat the Cause

If you spent time pulling weeds as a kid, you probably got fussed at a lot like I did. The natural thing is to pull the top part of the plant and move on. It looks good for now, but obviously it’ll sprout right back up.

But when my dad saw me do that, he made me go back and dig the root out. It was his way of reminding me that there’s no point in pulling the top part of the weed if we don’t pull the roots.

That principle obviously applies to a lot of things in life, and especially to our health. There are so many times we treat symptoms in life and ignore the cause. There’s nothing really wrong with treating symptoms, as long as we don’t stop there.

Type 2 diabetes is a great example of this. Although not every case is the same, almost every time it is preventable and often reversible through exercise and proper nutrition. I personally know several people (one of whom is currently a member) who used to be dependent on insulin, and by improving their nutrition and adding high intensity workouts, they were able to get off of insulin altogether. The CDC states in this report that nearly 1 in 4 Americans are living with diabetes or prediabetes. One fourth of our country!! Most of these cases are completely preventable. Instead, we pay billions to doctors and pharmacies for the treatment of the symptoms.

We could have the same conversation about heart disease and many other ailments.

Most people I talk to talk about how much better they feel when they work out. And the same goes with diet - good or bad you can usually feel it. There are so many positive effects from these activities that it might be hard to understand how we have such a hard time staying on track.

A big part of the problem is the way modern life is structured. The bad food is readily available and cheap. Most of us aren’t required to work very hard physically to survive. But our bodies are designed for the days when we had to work hard just to stay alive. When our ancestors found food, they had to eat as much as they could, and were drawn to the high carb, high fat foods because they were required for survival.

To counteract the forces working against us, we have to do something different. We can work together. We can hold each other accountable with nutrition. We can have fun while we work out and overcome some of the effects of our sedentary lifestyle. That is the true root cause of many of our ailments. It won't cure everything, but it sure corrects and prevents a lot of problems.

Becoming fitter means becoming healthier. When your body is stronger and healthier, it’s better able to fight off things that attack it. It’s able to heal faster when you have better blood flow to joints and tissues. To me, that means living a better, longer life.

I wrote before about finding your “why”. This is mine. My dad taught me about getting the roots out of the garden when I was a kid. But he’s not around anymore, and one big reason is his health.

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